Listening In
By Sandy Wells
October 7, 2005
PHOTO: Frank Pastore (left) and Terry Fahey
KKLA celebrates 20 years of Christian radio
Christian radio has come a long way since KKLA-FM 99.5 “The Spirit of Los Angeles” first took to the airwaves broadcasting from a tiny North Hollywood studio on Oct. 15, 1985. The station is celebrating its 20th anniversary next week.
Salem Communications, founded in 1974 by Edward Atsinger III in Camarillo, Calif., has grown to operate 105 stations nationwide. It has diversified from airing Christian teaching programs into pop music radio – Christian Contemporary and secular, conservative talk. Since going public in 1999, Salem’s healthy profit margins have won the respect of Wall Street analysts.
Salem has come to represent a significant counterweight to the generally secular, often anti-religious tilt of the so-called “mainstream media.” This has come in part by adopting mainstream media aesthetics to make the programming more appealing to general radio audiences. On KKLA, programs are introduced by presenters Jim Governale, Ted Ziegenbusch and Steve Geiger, who provide friendly chat and promote the rest of the station’s lineup.
This practice of making religious radio sound like “normal” radio was carried to a new level when KKLA launched an afternoon talk show, “Live From L.A.” in 1986. Ex-rock radio DJ and “Mighty Met” KMET-FM program director Warren Duffy was chosen as host.
“It was a big leap,” says Terry Fahey, Salem LA Vice President/General Manager who runs Salem’s LA “cluster” –KKLA-FM 99.5, KFSH-FM 95.9, KRLA-AM 870, KTIE-AM 590 and KXMX-AM 1190. “Basically we took three hours – that meant giving up a lot of time we had to sell [as block programs]. But it was a good compliment to what we were doing and the advertisers supported us.”
Duffy was succeeded by former Cincinnati Red pitcher Frank Pastore in early 2004. He is not what most people expect to hear on a Christian-themed talk show.
“We do everything from a Christian world-view,” says Pastore. “We do the news of the day, politics, pop culture, the silly stories as well as the serious.”
Broadcasting from “intersection of faith and reason,” Pastore brings a hard-charging, unpretentious yet passionate flair for religious and political debate to the table. He strives to dispel any preconceived ideas of Christians as wimpy “doormats,” who’d rather turn-the-other cheek than defend their beliefs in public.
“What motivates me is that Christianity is true,” says Pastore, who holds advanced degrees in political science and theology. “What was lacking before was the ability of Christians to articulate a political philosophy. Politics is theology applied. I’m getting back to our roots as to what it means to be a Christian patriot.”
KKLA’s block programs have been carefully chosen and nurtured over the years. Even though the programmers pay KKLA to air their shows, the station has always been very selective, according to Fahey.
“We have had really good programming; we have syndicated bible and teaching shows – the best out there,” says Fahey, who has counted “Focus on the Family” with Dr. James Dobson as client since “day one.” Other programs airing on KKLA from the beginning include “Focus on the Family,” “Insight For Living,” “Thru the Bible,” “In Touch,” “Grace to You” and “Haven Today.”
KKLA, now comfortably situated in modern facilities in Glendale, attracts about 250,000 listeners a week, according to Fahey. The new KKLA Speaker Series is drawing as many as 1,500 to the events. KKLA has subscribed to Arbitron, the company that measures radio audiences for advertisers since acquiring news/talk KRLA in 1999. While KKLA does not enjoy “big ratings” – its afternoon show audience has nearly doubled since Pastore signed on as host in early 2004 – half of KKLA’s revenue is still derived from selling the longer-form religious programs.
This hybrid business model – selling both long form programming “blocks” along with 30 and 60 second spots – has helped keep KKLA’s revenues consistent and growing for two decades – avoiding the industry’s cyclical ups and downs that affect the bigger commercial stations.
Despite its close identification with the film industry, LA has the largest number of evangelicals in any major U.S. city - nearly a million, according to a new study by the Ventura-based research firm, The Barna Group. The study estimates there are also 3.6 million born again Christian in the greater LA area, leaving KKLA with plenty of potential listeners within reach of its 10.5 thousand watts of effective radiated power.
“This is exactly where I should be, where the battle is most intense,” says Pastore of his radio mission in the midst of Hollywood, the “Belly of the Beast.” “That’s where Paul went - to Athens and to Rome.”
Christian radio has come a long way since KKLA-FM 99.5 “The Spirit of Los Angeles” first took to the airwaves broadcasting from a tiny North Hollywood studio on Oct. 15, 1985. The station is celebrating its 20th anniversary next week.
Salem Communications, founded in 1974 by Edward Atsinger III in Camarillo, Calif., has grown to operate 105 stations nationwide. It has diversified from airing Christian teaching programs into pop music radio – Christian Contemporary and secular, conservative talk. Since going public in 1999, Salem’s healthy profit margins have won the respect of Wall Street analysts.
Salem has come to represent a significant counterweight to the generally secular, often anti-religious tilt of the so-called “mainstream media.” This has come in part by adopting mainstream media aesthetics to make the programming more appealing to general radio audiences. On KKLA, programs are introduced by presenters Jim Governale, Ted Ziegenbusch and Steve Geiger, who provide friendly chat and promote the rest of the station’s lineup.
This practice of making religious radio sound like “normal” radio was carried to a new level when KKLA launched an afternoon talk show, “Live From L.A.” in 1986. Ex-rock radio DJ and “Mighty Met” KMET-FM program director Warren Duffy was chosen as host.
“It was a big leap,” says Terry Fahey, Salem LA Vice President/General Manager who runs Salem’s LA “cluster” –KKLA-FM 99.5, KFSH-FM 95.9, KRLA-AM 870, KTIE-AM 590 and KXMX-AM 1190. “Basically we took three hours – that meant giving up a lot of time we had to sell [as block programs]. But it was a good compliment to what we were doing and the advertisers supported us.”
Duffy was succeeded by former Cincinnati Red pitcher Frank Pastore in early 2004. He is not what most people expect to hear on a Christian-themed talk show.
“We do everything from a Christian world-view,” says Pastore. “We do the news of the day, politics, pop culture, the silly stories as well as the serious.”
Broadcasting from “intersection of faith and reason,” Pastore brings a hard-charging, unpretentious yet passionate flair for religious and political debate to the table. He strives to dispel any preconceived ideas of Christians as wimpy “doormats,” who’d rather turn-the-other cheek than defend their beliefs in public.
“What motivates me is that Christianity is true,” says Pastore, who holds advanced degrees in political science and theology. “What was lacking before was the ability of Christians to articulate a political philosophy. Politics is theology applied. I’m getting back to our roots as to what it means to be a Christian patriot.”
KKLA’s block programs have been carefully chosen and nurtured over the years. Even though the programmers pay KKLA to air their shows, the station has always been very selective, according to Fahey.
“We have had really good programming; we have syndicated bible and teaching shows – the best out there,” says Fahey, who has counted “Focus on the Family” with Dr. James Dobson as client since “day one.” Other programs airing on KKLA from the beginning include “Focus on the Family,” “Insight For Living,” “Thru the Bible,” “In Touch,” “Grace to You” and “Haven Today.”
KKLA, now comfortably situated in modern facilities in Glendale, attracts about 250,000 listeners a week, according to Fahey. The new KKLA Speaker Series is drawing as many as 1,500 to the events. KKLA has subscribed to Arbitron, the company that measures radio audiences for advertisers since acquiring news/talk KRLA in 1999. While KKLA does not enjoy “big ratings” – its afternoon show audience has nearly doubled since Pastore signed on as host in early 2004 – half of KKLA’s revenue is still derived from selling the longer-form religious programs.
This hybrid business model – selling both long form programming “blocks” along with 30 and 60 second spots – has helped keep KKLA’s revenues consistent and growing for two decades – avoiding the industry’s cyclical ups and downs that affect the bigger commercial stations.
Despite its close identification with the film industry, LA has the largest number of evangelicals in any major U.S. city - nearly a million, according to a new study by the Ventura-based research firm, The Barna Group. The study estimates there are also 3.6 million born again Christian in the greater LA area, leaving KKLA with plenty of potential listeners within reach of its 10.5 thousand watts of effective radiated power.
“This is exactly where I should be, where the battle is most intense,” says Pastore of his radio mission in the midst of Hollywood, the “Belly of the Beast.” “That’s where Paul went - to Athens and to Rome.”
2 comments:
I enjoy listening to you and Mr. KABC nearly every day. Just good intertainment. The mild mannered, Dependable Traffic Updates and the "you never know what they might say" questions hurled at Mr. K.
My payroll cards site is nice, but I like yours too! Come on over if you have some time.
Post a Comment